When Zach Came Back
by AmarisHarrow
Summary: Zach's back and Cammie realises that she likes him more than she remembered. and so begins a little game to win the others heart, but what Cammie doesn't realise is that she has already won Zach's heart, and is driving him away with her 'indifference'
1. Chapter 1

The Blackthorne Boys were here. Obviously, I had to pretend that I didn't give a shit. But that was proving easier said than done... Zachary was here again. I wish I had Bex's bad-girl confidence, she was just so damn hot when she wanted to be. And Zach, the gorgeous Zach. What was I going to do? He was getting in my head, but seriously in my head. Like, 'Hey Cammie I'm moving in here for life, deal with it.' It started last week, when they got here.

Everyone at the Gallagher Academy had basically accepted that the Blackthorne Boys were just not coming back. After last years escapades, we didn't expect to see them until we were outside the safe confines of our grounds and out in the real world. Or as real as the world gets for a spy anyway. But we Gallagher Girls aren't ones to miss anyone. Our lives are too temperamental for that. Instead of moping around like Liz had taken to doing (clearly she had liked Jonas a lot more than she had let on), I threw myself into physical training, and when I say threw, I mean it literally. Dr. Fibs had developed a portable human cannonball for fast evasive action if we are ever stuck out in the field. It is also extremely helpful for getting to various places faster.

So at every chance I got, I'd press the eject button and fly out to the running track around the perimeter of the school. Running was like my own personal diary. Every step I took was a word, only it couldn't be read by prying eyes. I could let go when I was running, and feel the wind trying to push me back, but knowing that I was stronger was the greatest feeling. My legs would pound against the grass, and I'd feel my muscles straining, thrusting me forward with immeasurable power. I had a tree, it was nothing special, but when I was there I knew that I was close to the end. After, 8.90km I had the final 100m of bliss before it was back to being shut in, locked in the classroom learning how to write a correct formal letter or The Russian Revolution of 1905 in COW.

Don't get me wrong, spy training is what I live for, without it I'd be normal, and I don't know if I could deal with that. But right then, nothing seemed worth it, if I could die so easily doing what I loved. I guess dad had been playing on my mind recently. He still is, even with Zach around to distract me. It was his birthday last week, the day before the Boys arrived, actually. At least this year I could spend the day with mum, although neither of us mentioned it. We Morgan girls are too strong for tears. Its a waste of fluid! In all seriousness, you never know when you could get stranded in the desert.

Anyway, it was on one of these hefty runs that I sprinted into Mr. Goode. Unfortunately, it was like 30 degrees outside, and I was more than a little sweaty when I collided chest first with him. Not the most attractive situation let me tell you. Nevertheless, being the complete tease he is, he wrapped his arms around me and whispered 'Oh Gallagher Girl, you've gotten fit.' Now, its not often that I get scared, but my heart fluttered in that minute, from fear or something deeper, I don't know.

One of the things that infuriate me about Zach is that I don't know where I stand with him. And I cant very well just ask him can I? I do not want him to know that I've been thinking about him. One minute he'll be tickling me and holding my hand, and the next he's giving me the cold shoulder. Its literally driving me INSANE.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - **

I was freezing. The heaters in the library had broken and my jumper was slung across my bed. I could see its exact position in my head, all warm and snuggly, just mocking me. So, as it was, I was freezing my arse off on a stiff backed chair wearing a hitched up skirt and faintly see through blouse. Suddenly, hands blocked my eyes. Anyone else probably would have just waited to see who it was, after all the code black hadn't gone off, meaning they hadn't been infiltrated, but not me. I jerked back my chair and used my leg power to flip the 'eye blocker' onto the table. In a second I was on top of them, pinning their arms next to their head.

I was just congratulating myself on an expert execution of the Plinsky Manoeuvre, when the boy, for it was a boy, beneath me started to chuckle.

'Damn Gallagher Girl, when did you get so fast?' exclaimed Zach.

'You've been away for a while Zach, what did you expect me to be doing? Moping? Not for me I'm afraid,' I replied cuttingly. I couldn't let him know how much I wanted to smile when I saw him. Then I got an idea.

'Hmm, Zach, lets see what you've been up to these past few months..' and with that, I yanked up his shirt to get a little look at his now fully formed six-pack.

'Not bad,' I grinned, letting him up from underneath me.

'Why thank you,' he mocked, grasping my hand and leading me out the door and into the little alcove behind the Gilly statue in the corridor.

Needless to say it was pretty squashed in that little space, and I could feel Zach's chest pressed up against mine, his heart beating steadily. I closed my eyes. How was it possible that he could have this effect on me? I'd spent my life learning how to be indifferent in the hardest situations. It was how I had dealt with losing my dad. It scared me to my very core that one person could undo all of my training by just standing next to me. Maybe Zachary Goode wasn't that good for me after all.

'Did you miss me Cammie?' he whispered. I noted the absence of his usual 'Gallagher Girl' quip, which meant he was being serious for once.

'I'm a spy Zach, I don't miss people.' I watched as his face contorted slightly, a grimace of mock pain flashed across his face, and was gone just as quickly as it had appeared.

'I missed you...' he pleaded, but I wasn't going to fall for it. I knew that if I said anything like that he would rip me apart, and that would be too much. Two could play his game, and this time I was going to use his tactics to win.

'Yeah but Zach, you aren't a spy are you? Not really, Blackthorne Boy..' and with that I slunk out of the alcove and ran towards my dormitory. I made a mistake that night, I didn't check to see if Zach was following me, a fatal error for someone in my field of 'work'. Somehow I just knew that he wouldn't be. The thing was, I saw him in a reflection, crumpled against the statue with his head in his hands, and real pain etched across his face. I almost stopped. Almost, but not quite. I went to bed that night feeling rough, rougher than I had in a long time, and I wasn't ill. It was guilt tearing me apart that night. While I was lying awake I did wonder where the boys were sleeping, because the East Wing was still open, and then I heard the voices.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - **

The best thing about having spies as best friends is that whenever something is wrong, you don't need to tell them, they know exactly how to act. Within 2 minutes and 37 seconds of my hearing the first voice, Bex, Liz, Macey and I were standing on the roof, the wind ripping through our hair. The maintenance department had blocked off all of my passages after everything with Josh got found out, but there was one that everybody had missed. Even me, until about a month earlier.

Because the Gallagher Academy had to pose as a normal mansion, it had to look like one, and so it needed chimneys. We didn't need any fires to keep us warm in winter, Dr. Fibs and central heating were way too advanced for that, so this left the chimney places nice and un-sooty, ready for use as an easy (ish) way up onto the roof of our dorm. Generally, the roof is a no go zone for all students at the Gallagher Academy. Rumours started by my mother and fuelled by Tina about automated stun guns and trip wires made it one place most of the Girls could live without seeing, until today.

A quick listen earlier had made it clear that our mysterious floating voices were coming from above us, but how? Our dorms were the highest point in the block, with some space on top for an attic, or what we thought was an attic. A quick rappel up the chimney shaft had left us with no doubt: Gilly Gallagher was a cheeky little minx. The space above us was huge, but massively wider than it was high, it was wider even than the dorm walls, and I reckon I could stand up with just a little extra head space, so it was about 1.9 metres. Because of its outward facing position, no one ever noticed that the right side of the 'attic' overhung the rest of the dormitory building, therefore concealing it very cleverly from some of the most brilliant minds in the business. Even Liz was stumped. It was so simple yet virtually invisible.

The main chimney shaft was actually peppered with small holes that could be used as hand and foot holds, obviously Gilly had had this made for a reason. Macey started making up inappropriate stories about Gilly visiting her hidden 'lovers' by way of the chimney, but when Liz started going green at the gills Bex hushed her. The situation was almost perfect, if we used ascension cables, the gappy foot holds became perfect peek holes, or if you' think like a spy, the perfect place to put miniature cameras and comms equipment.

It had been too dark to see what was actually in the room when we went up, but the voices, now audible (they were male voices) were definitely coming from inside. Bex had gone up first and plugged the cameras on with gum (we forgot the solid adhesive..) and Liz followed to install the comms and make sure everything was working properly. Because we were working in a narrow tube, we could only get up one at a time, so after they set up, Bex and Liz had whizzed up and out of the shaft and waited for me and Macey on the roof. 20 feet of chimney later, Macey and I had joined Bex and Liz and were relaxing after our show of expert reconnaissance skills.

A sudden crackling came over the comms as Liz flicked it to life, and we began to hear a conversation taking place in Swahili. Obviously, Gilly's hiding place had become the Blackthorne Boy's, because it was definitely their voices floating over the airwaves. As the time was about 2:30am, I'm assuming that Zach and Grant thought their conversation was safe, because they were discussing something that a spy should never, ever talk about. Feelings. The whisper of my name made us all sit up a little straighter and strain our ears to pick out what was going on. Grant had asked 'But what about Cammie?'

'Yes, what about Cammie?' I murmured. Then Zach started speaking :

'I don't know man, she's beautiful, and she's special to me, but I don't think she feels the same way,' he crooned.

'But you don't know that,' encouraged Grant.

'I think I do Grant, she was so cold earlier, its killing me.' he replied softly, 'I don't know what to do.'

I glanced at Liz, 'Are you sure the comms aren't picking up a different frequency Lizzy? Because that isn't our Zach talking.'

'Cammie, how many other people do you know called Cammie? With a friend called Grant? Its the right one, I'm sure.' Liz scolded.

And that's when I knew that somehow, Zach and Grant had found the comms equipment, because slowly, a voice came crooning through the speakers, saying 'Goodnight Gallagher Girl.' The static that followed was deafening in our silence. For the first time ever, even Bex was speechless.

'Oh they're good,' she muttered.

'But we're better,' said Macey, after turning on the camera feed, which was now dimly showing the inside of the boy's dormitory.

'Yes Bex, they didn't find it!' I yelled.

'That's because I half buried it in gum and no one in their right mind would touch someone else's used gum,' she grinned maliciously, 'Girls, we're still on!'

Zach was good, but I was better, I could beat him at his own game, and I knew that I would.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 -**

It was past 11am when I got up the morning after our little night time chimney adventure. My head was pounding as I sat up and looked for my friends, only to discover that they weren't there. I thought things had been a little too quiet. I did wonder where they had gone seeing as they'd been out just as late as me, and I would've presumed at least Bex would still be asleep. The truth was, I knew I'd probably only got to sleep at about 6am, simply because Zach's words had been drifting through my head, forcing my eyes to stay open.

I didn't know why he said the things he did. Maybe he had known about our comms equipment from the start and was just trying to play me, but I didn't see how he could have. I mean, we were Gallagher Girls, the best of the best, and by a long shot. Blackthorne trained their kids well, but to become assassins, not spies. And that was a fundamental difference, especially when it came to noticing stuff. No, I had come to a conclusion before drifting gently into a troubled sleep. Zach had meant what he said, and was now trying to turn it around and pretend he didn't like me as much as he said.

It was infuriating. Obviously, Zach meant a lot to me, and don't ask me why, because I couldn't tell you, but I wasn't going to be the first to admit it. I knew I had the power to make him feel small, and that made me feel so good that I leapt out of bed and jogged down to breakfast wearing my pyjamas. Going to breakfast in PJ's wasn't unusual. After all, we were girls despite being able to kill you with masking tape and a jalapeño pepper. Unfortunately, rules of breakfast table decorum changed considerably when there were boys involved, and no one had thought to tell me.

So, you can picture the scene. I bounded into the breakfast hall – late, I might add – and froze. The room full of lip gloss wearing, perfect haired girls, and rugged looking guys had turned around to see me in my oversize t-shirt and pyjama shorts. If I hadn't been so happy I would probably have died, but I just found Macey, Liz and Bex, strolled over and said..

'Did the chef do any waffles? I'm half starved!'

Needless to say, I got a couple of open mouthed stares from the likes of Tina Walters and Courtney Bauer. I was just about to tuck into my little piece of waffley heaven, when Tina started flicking her hair in a way that we do not get taught in C&A. That told everyone who was facing away from the central Isle that we had company, and they must have been good looking, because Tina doesn't flick for just anyone.

My heart constricted in my chest as a hand came to rest, gentle as a feather on my shoulder. the hand pulled me around, and I knew who it was immediately. Only one Blackthorne guy knew me, or rather thought he did, well enough to be that forward, and that was Zachary.

'Hey Cammie' he said, looking down on me with a crinkled smile of amusement. 'Did you girls have fun last night?'

'It was brilliant Zach, really. And the part where you confessed your undying love for me.. Classic.' I scorned. I was sure that his blasé attitude was just part of the game. He was trying to make me say how I felt first, I knew it, and I was not going to do that any time soon.

'I WHAT?' Zach replied, his face becoming stony. 'What did you hear Gallagher Girl?'

'Only that you _love me and dont know what to do about it_,' I answered in a high girly voice. 'God Zach, you think you'd do something a bit manlier that have a gossip fest with Grant at 3 in the morning.. It's pathetic.' I grinned mischievously, but Zach still wore his hardened face, and something unfamiliar danced through his eyes. It resembled anger, mixed with pain, but I assumed I was reading him wrong because this was Zach, and he always knew when I was joking. I couldn't have actually hurt him... could I?

I had no need to worry however, because at that moment his face lit up, and he began to chuckle.

'That was for your benefit baby,' he smirked. 'Next time, try and use a Comms Unit that isn't two way. It helps if the person you're trying to listen to can't hear you to.'

'That's how he knew it was there,' gasped Liz, and I knew that she had been puzzling this all night. She really was not one to let things go that she didn't understand. 'Dammit, that means Dr. Fibs has the wrong set!' And with that, Liz flew from the table, nearly banging into Jonas and clutching a banana as if it were a gun.

I turned around to continue my 'battle' with Zach, but he was gone. I craned my neck around Bex's head and saw him stalking out of the door, barely concealed anger visible in the set of his shoulders.

'Jesus, someone's pre-menstrual' I joked to Macey, but she just looked at me sadly.

'He really likes you Cammie, just think about that'

'No he doesn't, it's all a game to him' I replied, but Macey shook her head in earnest, and left the table.


End file.
